Tanner Horner, a former FedEx driver, ordered 7-year-old Athena Strand to remove her shirt just before strangling her to death in his delivery truck on November 30, 2022, as revealed in audio evidence played during his ongoing capital murder punishment trial in Tarrant County, Texas.
Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping on Apr. 7, 2026, shifting the trial to the penalty phase, where jurors decide between death or life imprisonment.
The 34-year-old had delivered a Walmart package of Barbie dolls ordered as a Christmas gift for Athena to her rural Paradise home in Wise County that afternoon. Her stepmother, Ashley Strand, reported her missing at 6:41 p.m. after finding her gone from a shed where she sorted laundry, according to the New York Post.
Dashcam video from Horner's truck captured him placing the alert girl inside after picking her up from the driveway, contradicting his later claim of accidentally striking her while reversing.
Audio recorded Horner telling Athena to "hang out for a minute," followed by her pleas for her mother and screams as she refused the shirt command and banged desperately from the cargo area. Prosecutors noted her fierce resistance, evidenced by Horner's DNA under her fingernails.
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Horner confessed to investigators that he tried snapping her neck first, then strangled her manually in the truck after panicking over her potential report to her father.
He discarded her clothes along a highway for "humiliation," calling it funny while invoking an alter ego named "Zero," and dumped her nude body face-down at Bobo Crossing in the Trinity River, 13 miles away. Some clothing items matching Athena's, including underwear and jeans, were recovered from his residence and truck, CBS News reported.
Prosecutor James Stainton highlighted Horner's pattern of lies except admitting the killing, with dashcam audio showing his initial threat: "Don't scream or I'll hurt you," repeated twice.
Horner's DNA appeared in inappropriate locations on the child, supporting sexual assault implications amid his separate Tarrant County charges for unrelated teen assaults. The trial, moved from Wise County due to publicity, continues with the defense citing prenatal alcohol exposure, autism, and brain issues.
An Amber Alert search mobilized 300 locals with ATVs and dogs before Athena's body discovery on December 2. The case prompted Texas's "Athena Alert" law for faster missing child notifications, as per Fox4News.
